“Mr. Hartwick,” I said, “my name’s Lincoln Perry.”
“Yeah?”
“I’m an investigator working for John Weston. My partner and I were hoping to ask you a few questions about your relationship with John’s son.”
For a few seconds all I could hear was his breathing. “I’m afraid I can’t help you,” he said, and his voice had a measure of caution now.
“You still driving that green Olds?” I asked.
There was another brief silence. “You’re the guys from the Taurus,” he said.
“Uh-huh.”
“You said you’re working for John?” When I acknowledged that was true, he said, “All right, we can talk.”
“Think you could stop by our office this afternoon? I can give you directions. It isn’t hard to find.”
“No way,” he said. “Don’t take this personally, but I’d kind of prefer to call the shots here until I know what I’m getting into.” He paused, considering the options. “Where are you guys?”
I told him.
“All right, here’s what we’ll do,” he said. “I’m going to take a little drive around, see if I can pick out a meeting place I’m comfortable with. When I find one, I’ll call you back, and you can come meet me.”
“That works,” I said, thinking about Kinkaid’s description of Hartwick as the most dangerous man he’d ever met. We could be walking into a trap, but at least we’d be somewhat prepared. I was glad Kinkaid had decided to make the trip to Cleveland. If he hadn’t, Joe and I would have approached Hartwick with our usual caution-but with a man like that, the usual caution might not have been enough. I gave him the office phone number and hung up. Joe and Kinkaid looked at me expectantly.
“He’ll meet with us, but only on his terms. He said he’s going to pick out a meeting spot and call us back, then we’ll go down to see him.”
“Shit.” Kinkaid frowned and shook his head emphatically. “I don’t like that, man. That sounds like a setup to me. He’s got too much control in that scenario.”
I turned to Joe. He was expressionless, listening to Kinkaid’s warning but not reacting.
“Well, grandpa?” I said.
“This Hartwick guy sounds like he could hold a lot of answers,” Joe said. “If this is the only way he’ll talk to us, then that’s what we’ll have to do. There’s only one of him, and there’s three of us. We should be all right.”
“You’re thinking we split up?” Kinkaid asked. “Keep someone out on the perimeter in case anything goes wrong?”
“I’m not expecting anything to go wrong,” Joe answered, “but that’s not such a bad idea. No matter what, I don’t think you should be with us during the meeting.”
“What? Oh, come on!” Kinkaid leaned forward and slapped the top of the desk with one hand. “That’s bullshit, Pritchard. You want my help or not? I know this guy better than you do. I need to be there when you’re asking him questions.”
Joe shook his head. “No, you don’t. I know you’re more experienced with Hartwick, but that isn’t necessarily a helpful thing. If he sees you, he might be more guarded than he would be with just Lincoln and me. He probably assumes you know some of his background, and that might hurt us more than it would help us. As it is now, you’re the ace up our sleeve. Let’s not throw you on the table just yet.”
Kinkaid pursed his lips and exhaled heavily, his face forming an angry pout, like a child trying unsuccessfully to whistle.
“Joe’s right,” I said. “Right now Hartwick thinks we’re clueless. And, while we don’t know much, what we do know is thanks to you. The longer we can keep him off balance, keep him feeling smart and in control, the better chance we have of figuring out what he’s doing here.”
I almost believed what I was saying. In some aspects, it was true, but it wasn’t the real reason I wanted Kinkaid kept out of the meeting. He’d been honest with us so far, and I had to give him credit for that, but I wasn’t used to working with him. Joe and I had interviewed hundreds of people together, we knew how to work as a team, and I didn’t want Kinkaid’s presence disrupting that. And I had no idea how he’d perform under fire if something did go wrong. If Hartwick was setting us up, Kinkaid could be a liability.
“You mind if I smoke in your office?” Kinkaid asked about ten minutes later, breaking what had become a fairly long silence as we waited to hear from Hartwick again.
“Prefer you didn’t,” Joe said. “I can’t stand the stench of stale smoke, and it’s too cold to open the windows.”
“No sweat. I’ll step outside for a few minutes.”
He left, and I turned to Joe, thankful for the opportunity to discuss things without Kinkaid in the room. “What do you think of him?”
“Kinkaid?” He shrugged. “He lied to me once, and he tried to hit it with his partner’s wife. Makes him an asshole, right? But his desire to help us out now seems legitimate, and, love him or hate him, you have to admit he can be useful to us. He knows Weston, and he’s already been helpful with Hartwick. I say we let him string along with us for a while. This case is heavy already, and there’s no harm in having a little help with it.”
“That’s about how I feel,” I said. “His track record seems a little suspect, but if he can help us, I don’t give a damn who he wants to sleep with. If we can find Julie Weston, he can have her.”
“You’re sticking with the idea that she and the girl are alive.”
“Got to stick with it. The other option is too depressing.”
CHAPTER 11
AFTER PARTING ways with Wayne Weston, Aaron Kinkaid had moved to Sandusky to work as the chief investigator for an established security company. A few years later he’d become part owner, and now he ran business operations alone, with a silent partner. He told us this as we sat in the office, waiting impatiently for Hartwick to call.
“How’d you end up in the business to begin with?” Joe asked. “You weren’t a cop?”
“No, I was never a cop.” Kinkaid gave a sheepish grin. “I know how pathetic this sounds, but, to be honest, I liked the way it looked in the movies. You know, Bogart as Sam Spade or Philip Marlowe? Or Nicholson in Chinatown? Man, I ate that stuff up when I was younger. I was in college, studying business marketing, anticipating a life of hyping paint thinner to hardware stores or some crap like that, but at night I’d go home and watch those old movies on TV and think about how much I’d like to have that job. The constant change intrigued me, the idea that a mysterious client could walk into your office any day and put you in the middle of something…” The words died off as Kinkaid stared at the wall, lost in his memories. He shook his head, bringing himself back into reality.
“Funny,” he said, “I went into the business for the intrigue, and now I’m running a security company, dealing more with marketing ploys and bottom-line figures than I am with investigation. I basically ended up doing the same thing I set out to avoid.”
“It works like that sometimes,” I said, and Joe looked at me with an understanding Kinkaid couldn’t share. After being forced to leave the department, I’d attempted to leave all the remains of my old life behind with the badge. I’d cut ties with almost everyone on the force, and I’d purchased the gym and plunged into work as a small business owner. It had been several months before Amy had convinced me to look into the murder of one of my gym patrons and pushed me back into the life I’d tried to abandon. Somewhere along the line, I’d realized what a mistake I’d made. I couldn’t be happy in the business world. I fed off the investigative process, off the questions and the answers, the unknowns and the facts. I fed off the pursuit of truth. It was what made me complete, what gave my life purpose. I wouldn’t try to leave it behind again.
“I remember Bogart as Spade,” Joe said, breaking in on my thoughts. “I was a kid when I saw it, and I’ve got plenty of years on either of you. Hell of an old movie. Who wrote the book?”